OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 379 
volume of animal biography? We admit, therefore, 
that inthepresent state of things, the mind of a young 
zoologist would be chiefly occupied in the minutize 
of his study, because, as to the science itself, he 
would have little else to reflect upon; he has nei- 
ther been instructed, nor has he heard of definite 
laws, in zoology, although he may be acquainted 
with those of the Newtonian philosophy. But it by 
no means follows, that because he busies himself 
with minute details, his mind will therefore receive 
a corresponding contraction. The least, no less than 
the greatest of the Creator’s works, possess the 
power of exciting the loftiest ideas of his power and 
wisdom, and while emotions such as these, fos- 
tered by previous studies, rise in the youthful 
breast, it is of little consequence to his happi- 
ness, whether he is engaged in the investigation of 
general laws, or examines, under the microscope, 
the complicated structure of the mouth of an insect. 
To stigmatise such pursuits, carried on with such 
feelings, as trivial or mean, is not only folly, but 
gross impiety. 
(260.) But natural history, it may be said, being 
as much an intellectual as a spiritual study, cannot 
well be made a part of university education ; inas- 
much as its acquirement would trench upon time 
absolutely requisite for other studies more immedi- 
ately bearing on the active duties of life. Now, if 
our universities were schools for commerce, manufac- 
tories, or the practical arts, where young men were to 
be instructed in those professions by which the great 
machine of active society is carried on, this objection 
might have some weight. But a moment’s consider- 
